Far Cry Primal Hands-On Preview (w/ Gameplay Video)

Ubisoft invited members of the press to check out the latest entry in the Far Cry series, Primal, a first-person open-world game like previous entries. (Sadly, a third-person option is still not available.) Far Cry 4 was my personal favorite so I was anxious to see how things would feel in the Stone Age. We even got to record our gameplay. How was it? See for yourself.

Being able to have a tiger or a wolf as a friend is one of the game’s highlights. Essentially, if you put food out as bait, most animals can be tamed like the awesome mammoths. Petting my adorable wolf made it more loyal. If you were to then bait and pet another beastie, the previous one just wanders off, though once one has tamed, you can call upon them again. As far as controlling them, you can easily the hit a button to lead the creature forward or attack if you point towards a hostile. I trekked into a cave full of not-so-friendly cave dwellers, but for some reason, my wolf decided to not go in the cave. Regardless I went in…

The demo was open to whatever we wanted to try sans any main story missions. I think the challenge for Primal will be the narrative. I was impressed that the dialogue scenes were in native non-English speak. Still, I’m wondering where this Stone Age tale will go once the fascination with the admittedly richly detailed area wears off. All the other aspects like shooting, crafting items, and taking over settlements are standard, as it is with many open-world games nowadays.

The world of Primal is called Oros, with players pit in the role of Trakkar, the beast master. He doesn’t have much personality so far, but then again, that’s never been one of Far Cry‘s strengths. Oros, however, has a ton. There’s something quite refreshing about being in a world that is “pre-civilization” so to speak. As I traversed the environment, I had the feeling of exploring places where I am the first homosapien. Now, there are plenty of tribes with their own settlements (and humans) to be sure, but that didn’t really occur to me while exploring unless I ran into someone with a spear out to kill Trakkar.

At one point, I took a dive in a stream to see how the swimming mechanics felt. There wasn’t much to see beyond a few plants to collect and fish. Still, I wasn’t as concerned with what was below the surface as I was where I would eventually submerge. Alas, I swam too far and got a warning that I need to turn back in 3, 2, 1… or the level would reset. No matter, back in the lush forest jungle I gathered a few branches to keep my spear supply in check.

There are no vehicles (obviously), but there is fast traveling once you’ve taken over a camp, which (so far) means killing everyone. Another cool feature to look over the map is one where you can look over the area from above using an owl as your eyes and ears. It’s a peaceful little mode that fits in perfectly with the look and feel of Oros.

Will all this connect on an emotional level once a narrative is in place? I’m meshing together my stones and sticks hoping that such a fire gets ignited when Far Cry Primal will be unleashed February 23, 2016 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.